I created this full walkthru for people who upgrade / or replace their hard drive / SSD drive on the Lenovo Yoga 2 Pro or other Lenovo products that has the Nova button - One Key recovery solution. I did this on my Yoga 2 Pro. So it should work perfectly for those owners for others I'm not certain but it should be similar for other Lenovos.

It was removed off the Lenovo forum so it's must be too or technical or not permitted.

Essentially this rebuilds your laptop back to factory settings including full nova button functionality without having to buy the lenovo recovery disks. It took me several days to piece this together from everything on the web into an easy to follow step by step process so I hope you appreciate / enjoy it And I hope it saves you lots of time.

The process is not that hard but you are completely wiping your hard drive yourself. All your data will be gone. Bear this in mind. You have to be bold enough to try it. And it's not for the faint of heart.

5. Run the Microsoft file and select English > Windows 8.1 and > 64 bit

6. Burn the Windows 8.1 to USb through the software.

7. Relax and have a coffee while it creates the usb stick.

8. Download and save the necessary lenovo drivers onto another USB stick, external hard drive or onto one of the 2 USB sticks you are already using. Valuable if you only have one computer.

Please note: You install all this stuff at your own risk. Property back up and save all your old personal data first onto an external hard drive. This process will wipe everything off your drive, including all the partitions (including the old recovery partition if you have one there) and you'd won't be able to get it back.

Having access to two computers is helpful. But if done property you should be good with one. I will not be responsible for any mishaps. This is cowboy computing. Typically for people with too much time on their hands or who are obsessive compulsive types

Second section:

1. Turn off computer.

2. Press Nova button, wait, enter into Bios. Goto to boot mode and switch boot from UEFI only to 'legacy mode". This allows you to boot to the OKR 8 USB your prepared.

7. Once it loads click the check mark and hit the button with Chinese letters. This whole software is in Chinese and not in English. Don't worry.

8. Wait patiently. It will say 'done' but it's not all done until the popup windows appears and says All Done. Then REMOVE the usb and reboot.

9. Important* - Reboot the computer and let the OKR 8 software load and install on the recovery partition - It finishes the installation after you reboot. It will reboot again and load into the One Key Recovery Panel software.

Yay! Now select shutdown from the One Key Recovery environment.

10. Press Nova button again > enter bio > and switch back to UEFI mode. *Important* If you try to install Windows through USB legacy mode. You will get a GPT error when trying to install windows onto the hard drive.

16. Reboot. Go through standard windows setup. Install all drivers and program you want in preparation to save the intial factory recovery state.

16. Get your yoga 2 pro or laptop up to the initial specifications you want and then shut down.

Section 3:

1.. Now it's time to create the initial backup onto the hidden recovery partition so you can reset the laptop back to initial specs whenever you wish including when you want to sell or give away the laptop.

2. From a shutdown state - Goto system recovery through novo button again.

3. Once it's loaded press CTRL+Shift+O to pull up the command prompt window (Shift + F10 was previously suggested. It did not work for me, maybe on older machines)

4. At the command prompt type in: diskpart

5. type: list volume

6. look for the letter of volume that is labelled PBR_DRV (eg. H) - This is the hidden Lenovo recovery partition where the initial factory backup image will be saved to.

7. type exit

8. type: H: or whatever volume it is.

9. Your directory should change to H:

10. Type: cd onekey\osimage > This takes you to the correct directory.

I created this full walkthru for people who upgrade / or replace their hard drive / SSD drive on the Lenovo Yoga 2 Pro or other Lenovo products that has the Nova button - One Key recovery solution. I did this on my Yoga 2 Pro. So it should work perfectly for those owners for others I'm not certain but it should be similar for other Lenovos.

It was removed off the Lenovo forum so it's must be too or technical or not permitted.

Essentially this rebuilds your laptop back to factory settings including full nova button functionality without having to buy the lenovo recovery disks. It took me several days to piece this together from everything on the web into an easy to follow step by step process so I hope you appreciate / enjoy it And I hope it saves you lots of time.

The process is not that hard but you are completely wiping your hard drive yourself. All your data will be gone. Bear this in mind. You have to be bold enough to try it. And it's not for the faint of heart.

5. Run the Microsoft file and select English > Windows 8.1 and > 64 bit

6. Burn the Windows 8.1 to USb through the software.

7. Relax and have a coffee while it creates the usb stick.

8. Download and save the necessary lenovo drivers onto another USB stick, external hard drive or onto one of the 2 USB sticks you are already using. Valuable if you only have one computer.

Please note: You install all this stuff at your own risk. Property back up and save all your old personal data first onto an external hard drive. This process will wipe everything off your drive, including all the partitions (including the old recovery partition if you have one there) and you'd won't be able to get it back.

Having access to two computers is helpful. But if done property you should be good with one. I will not be responsible for any mishaps. This is cowboy computing. Typically for people with too much time on their hands or who are obsessive compulsive types

Second section:

1. Turn off computer.

2. Press Nova button, wait, enter into Bios. Goto to boot mode and switch boot from UEFI only to 'legacy mode". This allows you to boot to the OKR 8 USB your prepared.

7. Once it loads click the check mark and hit the button with Chinese letters. This whole software is in Chinese and not in English. Don't worry.

8. Wait patiently. It will say 'done' but it's not all done until the popup windows appears and says All Done. Then REMOVE the usb and reboot.

9. Important* - Reboot the computer and let the OKR 8 software load and install on the recovery partition - It finishes the installation after you reboot. It will reboot again and load into the One Key Recovery Panel software.

Yay! Now select shutdown from the One Key Recovery environment.

10. Press Nova button again > enter bio > and switch back to UEFI mode. *Important* If you try to install Windows through USB legacy mode. You will get a GPT error when trying to install windows onto the hard drive.

16. Reboot. Go through standard windows setup. Install all drivers and program you want in preparation to save the intial factory recovery state.

16. Get your yoga 2 pro or laptop up to the initial specifications you want and then shut down.

Section 3:

1.. Now it's time to create the initial backup onto the hidden recovery partition so you can reset the laptop back to initial specs whenever you wish including when you want to sell or give away the laptop.

2. From a shutdown state - Goto system recovery through novo button again.

3. Once it's loaded press CTRL+Shift+O to pull up the command prompt window (Shift + F10 was previously suggested. It did not work for me, maybe on older machines)

4. At the command prompt type in: diskpart

5. type: list volume

6. look for the letter of volume that is labelled PBR_DRV (eg. H) - This is the hidden Lenovo recovery partition where the initial factory backup image will be saved to.

7. type exit

8. type: H: or whatever volume it is.

9. Your directory should change to H:

10. Type: cd onekey\osimage > This takes you to the correct directory.

SUPERB....
I've been searching about Y2P recovery image for 3 months. one of my partition was damage. so I cannot factory reset the windows. I still cannot find any Recovery Image for Y2P to download. BUT.... with this TUTORIAL I should be able to make a new one, am I right?

7. Once it loads click the check mark and hit the button with Chinese letters. This whole software is in Chinese and not in English. Don't worry.

8. Wait patiently. It will say 'done' but it's not all done until the popup windows appears and says All Done. Then REMOVE the usb and reboot.

9. Important* - Reboot the computer and let the OKR 8 software load and install on the recovery partition - It finishes the installation after you reboot. It will reboot again and load into the One Key Recovery Panel software.

Yay! Now select shutdown from the One Key Recovery environment.

Hi, I tried to this process for my Lenovo Ideapad 310, with 500GB +24GB SSD, I carefully followed every step, upto step 8, but my laptop failed to do step 9, no OKR 8 software load and installation of recovery partition. I checked with bootable windows, there was no restoration of factory defined partition, there was just one 500GB unallocated partition.

I also converted HDD to basic GTP partition using mini Partition tool 9 , its free (initially HDD was basic MBR, I converted to basic GTP unallocated, still no luck)

I feel it might be failing because 24GB SSD is being used by smart technology and may be OKR 8, is trying to create partitions on SSD which is locked by BIOS .

If there is any one who can help me over come this problem.

I was able to install windows without OKR 8, using Windows 8 DVD defining my own custom partitions. But I got problem with cache SSD drive. Intel Smart Accelartion was disabled, and windows kept prompting SSD failing drive. Very annoying,

!!!Just an amendment, I found the solution. as I guessed in my earlier post Sandisk U100 24GS SSD was locked by BIOS smart technology. OKR 8 was unable to create factory partition structure because it was trying to create on 24GB SSD DISK 0 which is locked by BIOS. So I tried to explore OKR 8 rescue disk, inside the OKR 8 folder, there is a file called " create.ini " the very first line it says Disk 0, you need to change it if your OS HDD is Disk 1 or Disk 2, it can be on different port if you have more than one Drive in system ( in my case it was Disk 1)

Important!!!...If you installing Win OS in raid mode, you need to download and extract RAID controller driver in USB or add into installation disk (In my case it was Intel RAID drivers), or Windows will not see any Drives /partitions to install OS (Win8/7/xp) during windows installation setup.

Other useful utilities I used was Rufus 2.01 USB creation tool, its an amazing tool, and you can choose MBR or GPT mode for burning ISO in NTFS for native/lagacy systems and FAT32 system for UEFI mode. (TIP: For Lagacy mode burn in MBR for BIOS in NTFS format... and for WIndows 8 ISO, burn GPT in FAT32 file system)https://rufus.akeo.ie/ (Download at bottom of page)

I also used POWER ISO trial versions an mentioned above in orginal post by @hernof, I created USB for lagacy mode from Tools -> Make bootable USB , it iwll allow you to select ISO image (make sure its USB-HDD mode) and worked good.

It will be wise to have at least 2 or 3 USBs, though I kept burning OKR 8, and Win8 ISO. I have Retail version DVD that I purchased when windows 8 was launched, but am sure you can find Windows 8 ISO online.

System Stable and Running..

I still failed to manage to use iRST technology. because to setup you need unallocated SSD drive, but on Lenovo Ideapad 310, SSD is locked by BIOS, it auto creates a 4GB partition (Equal to amount of RAM installed ) AND 18.2GB partition, and I was getting I/O error when tried to delete it because of BIOS lock on it. Therefore couldn't setup Intel Rapid Storage Technology, manually. I am believing BIOS is doing it internally the way SSD is preparation at BIOS startup.

Thats all from. Thanks for every one help . Dont hesitate to ask a question if you have any.

You're welcome everyone. I just got back on here and didn't realize this thread was live and helping people. Hope everything helped. I don't know how well it works on different Lenovo laptops. As the OKR seems to repartition for a 250 GB SSD HD.

** I also now just use Rufus. It's free. Be sure when you burn the OKR and OS to select GPT not MBR and fat32 if your computer support UEFI like the Y2pro does. And make the stick bootable.

But you guys seems to be figuring it out.

Ironically my hard drive just crashed so I'm having to do another fresh install myself. I'm loaded Windows 10 directly and this method worked great. GL

Thank you so much for putting all of the effort into this. I know these things can be pretty daunting. That said, I wonder what I would be missing by giving up all of this. So far I have:

Repartitioned so I can dual boot Linux Mint

Resized everything on the 1TB SSHD so I could migrate to a 1/2 TB SSD. (That was exciting! )

Wiped Win8.1 and installed Win10 preview to get rid of Superfish.

I know the drivers are available in one partition but I just downloaded what I wanted from the Lenovo site. (I downloaded the touchpad drivers from IIRC Synaptics so I could get a more functional driver.) I also skipped all of the bloat that Lenovo ships with the default install. Is there any reason at all for me to keep the recovery and driver partitions? I'd prefer to delete them and grow my Win10 partition into that space.

Thank you so much for putting all of the effort into this. I know these things can be pretty daunting. That said, I wonder what I would be missing by giving up all of this. So far I have:

Repartitioned so I can dual boot Linux Mint

Resized everything on the 1TB SSHD so I could migrate to a 1/2 TB SSD. (That was exciting! )

Wiped Win8.1 and installed Win10 preview to get rid of Superfish.

I know the drivers are available in one partition but I just downloaded what I wanted from the Lenovo site. (I downloaded the touchpad drivers from IIRC Synaptics so I could get a more functional driver.) I also skipped all of the bloat that Lenovo ships with the default install. Is there any reason at all for me to keep the recovery and driver partitions? I'd prefer to delete them and grow my Win10 partition into that space.

Hi Guys one bug I have just discovered when doing a of Windows 8 or 10. You have to change one of the default settings of the synaptics touch pad. You have to put the "Palm Check Thresold" to Max or just below. This was causing me problems for months.
If you use ever use an external display and keyboard, when you close the laptop, the mouse cursor can jump around erratically, this is because the displayed is pressing down on the touchpad and it is reacting to that. Right click on the touchpad icon in the taskbar --> then select clickpad settings -> Then select advanced --> and turn the palm check threshold up to max.
Lenovo turns it up at default but if you do the install yourself it will be set too low.
Happy computing.

Hello am new to the site I followed all your steps everything works great. My laptop is lenovo y510p.My question is how do I increase partition C size without damaging one key recovery partition. I tried using disk management to shrink D partition and extend C partition but extend option is not showing in the C partition. Thank you in advance for your help.